Babu Lal Kathel, known as ‘Brij’, was a consultant surgeon at Grantham General Hospital. Born on 11 November 1932 in Jhansi, India, he was the son of Har Prasad Kathel and Durga Devi Kathel. He was educated at a Christian school and studied medicine at Lucknow University, where he qualified in 1955. He went to England in 1959 to specialise in surgery, doing junior jobs in Ipswich and elsewhere, and becoming a registrar at Whiston Hospital, Liverpool, where he completed a masters degree in surgery from Liverpool University and met his future wife, Cynthia Wigham, a hospital administrator. He was appointed consultant general surgeon at Grantham Hospital in 1973, with administrative responsibility for the accident and emergency department. At that time there were only two general surgeons in Grantham and Brij was on call on alternate nights, and every night when his colleague was ill or absent. It was not long before he was chairman of the hospital management committee. Despite a heart attack in 1975, he continued to work with enthusiasm, building up the surgical service in Grantham. He married Cynthia in 1975 and they had two daughters (Kiran and Camilla) and a son (Neal). An enthusiastic gardener, he enjoyed visits to the Lake District, walks by the sea, freemasonry and Rotary. He died on 25 November 2002 in Grantham Hospital.